It’s been a long, varied and hard working Summer. I spent the first couple of months writing my literature review. That was a long and slow process which involved lots of reading and, or course, writing. As a result it developed in fits and starts. Some days I’d get lots written and others virtually nothing. I also had to finish a chapter of a book I was writing for my previous University on Social Media. I’d asked a friend and colleague to help with the case study as he had written the module we’d both worked on and had lots of student data to add. This took quite a bit of time of leasing with him and the editor.

The Summer School in Slovenia, as documented in this diary, was very useful although it meant I lost just over three weeks on the literature review due needing a mental an physical break afterwards. But overall it was definitely worth the trip. It now leaves me a little short of having the lit review finished by the end of September.

This week I’ve being trying to get back in the swing of things again. I have now registered for year two and on Monday met with a Fellow PhD student to compare notes at the British Library. She was concerned about the amount of the theoretical knowledge needed for her research work. But that’s what it’s all about.

I met both my supervisors independently of one another on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss their thoughts about my literature review which I had sent them a month previously. The response was fairly positive although one thought that I was spending too much time trying to address the big questions of my research and not getting into specific subjects relating to my research questions.

I’m going to be taking seminars every Monday for the module Network society and the Media this semester and had an initial meeting about it yesterday. I’m really looking forward to it as it’s a really good chance to engage with students about their media use as well as listen to some in-depth lectures.